Thomas Pogge claims to close the gap between proponents of large-scale humanitarian aid to the third world, and those opposing such policy. Pogge turns this last group into his target audience by...Show moreThomas Pogge claims to close the gap between proponents of large-scale humanitarian aid to the third world, and those opposing such policy. Pogge turns this last group into his target audience by adopting an alleged core-principle of libertarianism, a premise that is often held among those who oppose large governmental programs, roughly the political ‘right’. According to Pogge’s argument, those holding onto the libertarian tenet must completely turn their stance on foreign aid around, as their principle actually prescribes moral duties of first world citizens to aid the third world in order to salvage inflicted damages. In this essay, I examine the actual persuasiveness of Pogge’s argument by assessing the similarity between premises used by Pogge and those held by his target audience. I do so by distinguishing two variants of Pogge’s argument, which both consist of three sub-arguments. Despite the occasional agreement, Pogge’s argument fails to concord with many key-premises generally associated with libertarians, liberals and conservatives. Due to the clash in between the two sides of the debate, Pogge’s tactic to reconcile them into one proposal fails to truly convince. I conclude that Pogge is more likely to sway his target audience by using their similarities to open a dialogue.Show less
Thomas Pogge in his paper “Cosmopolitanism and Sovereignty” developed an idea for global institutional reform which contributed significantly to the debate about global justice and promotion of...Show moreThomas Pogge in his paper “Cosmopolitanism and Sovereignty” developed an idea for global institutional reform which contributed significantly to the debate about global justice and promotion of human rights. Pogge attempts to use a strategy that would permit him to go beyond the debate between two extreme approaches to duties, namely libertarianism and utilitarianism. The idea is to invoke strong obligations on the part of individuals by appealing only to their negative duties and not affirming positive duties. In this way, Pogge attempts to broaden the circle of responsibility for the fulfillment of human rights. This thesis will discover how succesful Pogge is in his strategy to do it. It will explore how Pogge adresses within his institutional cosmopolitanism the duties that human rights entail and reveal this way a number of weak points in the theoryShow less